Black mothers in the U.S. are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Actress Tatyana Ali became an advocate after her own awful experience giving birth.
Transcript
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The United States is arguably the most dangerous country in the developed world to give birth in, with a much higher rate of maternal deaths compared to other wealthy nations. Six-hundred and forty-nine women in the U.S. died from pregnancy-related causes in 2024, according to federal data. But there’s a huge disparity in the numbers. Black mothers were more than three times as likely to lose their lives than white women.
NPR’s Kristin Wright has been reporting on some of the people who are working to change all this, and we should warn listeners we’ll be discussing the details of a very traumatic birth. Kristen, thank you so much for being here.
KRISTIN WRIGHT, BYLINE: Hi, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So I understand one person who’s working on solutions is actor and singer Tatyana Ali. Now, I was a big fan of Ali when she was on “The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” back in the ’90s. I hear she’s also going to be on “Dancing With The Stars” starting this week. How did she become an advocate for moms and babies?
WRIGHT: Well, Tatyana Ali says being a mother is the most important role of her life. She and her husband, Vaughn Rasberry, are raising two sons, Aszi and Alejandro. She says it was the birth of her oldest, Aszi, that eventually made her want to speak out for mothers and Black mothers in particular. Ali told me that, while her son is OK now, it was a traumatic birth.
RASCOE: What happened?
WRIGHT: Ali had a normal pregnancy with Aszi. She described those days as filled with joy.
TATYANA ALI: My mother’s song when she was waiting for me was (singing) quando, quando, quando.
When are you coming? And I sang that song. I thought we were prepared.
WRIGHT: But during the delivery at the hospital, she says her birth plan was immediately ignored, and she was physically restrained.
ALI: You know, it went from a small group of people in the room to many people in the room, screaming, yelling at me. I was held down by about four people.
WRIGHT: Ali says her hospital records describe the doctor using a high-risk emergency procedure. She says he pushed the baby back inside of her after the baby was already crowning in order to perform an emergency C-section. It’s called the Zavanelli maneuver, and it is a last-resort procedure performed when a baby is stuck inside the birth canal.
ALI: I convulsed after that. Like, my body – I can hear the bed just go (vocalizing). And I was out. I passed out.
RASCOE: Ah, I mean, it’s hard to even hear that.
WRIGHT: It’s difficult to hear. Aszi did get strong enough to go home after days in intensive care. Ali says it took some time for her to realize she experienced what she calls obstetric violence. And she blames systemic racism in healthcare after hearing so many similar stories from other women of color.
ALI: It wasn’t just me. I was one tiny drop in a very, very large bucket.
RASCOE: So how common is this sort of experience, especially for Black women?
WRIGHT: Very. Patterns of disparities in care are well documented. Many in the maternity care field are concerned about this. I talked to an OBGYN at MedStar Washington Hospital Center here in D.C. Dr. Tamika Auguste is chair of the women’s and infant services.
TAMIKA AUGUSTE: I can’t tell you how many Black women have said to me, hey, doc, don’t let me die. The poor rates and outcomes of Black maternity patients is something that rocked us to our core.
WRIGHT: Dr. Auguste says, important work has been done to improve protocols and guidelines to address specific maternal health conditions like cardiac issues, hemorrhaging and hypertension. But she says there’s still the problem of bias. For example, Dr. Auguste points to the dangerous misconception that Black patients have a higher threshold for pain.
There are other barriers, like lack of access to care. Dr. Auguste’s own hospital recently closed one of two postpartum units, citing financial pressure. Nationwide, more than half of counties don’t have hospital-based labor and delivery services. That’s according to the nonprofit March of Dimes. The group calls these maternity care deserts.
RASCOE: So back to Tatyana Ali, you mentioned that despite the traumatic birth, her son is OK. What is she doing now as an advocate?
WRIGHT: Well, Ali has become an important voice in the reproductive justice movement. She speaks across the country, sharing her story and talking about solutions. One big solution for her is more access to midwives, so she’s raising money to support black and indigenous midwives and other birth workers and students. Recently, I profiled a midwife who completed her licensing requirements thanks to a grant funded by Ali. Her name is Nadia Gramby.
NADIA GRAMBY: It is an amazing joy to see families who feel safe.
WRIGHT: Gramby lives in Alabama, where maternal and infant mortality rates are very high, especially for Black moms and babies.
RASCOE: What do physicians say about midwives as a solution to these disparities?
WRIGHT: Midwives are medically trained to do many of the same things as doctors in low-risk situations. They deliver in hospitals, at birth centers and at homes. Research shows midwife births lead to lower rates of complications. But some physicians and policymakers worry. They worry about the safety of births outside of hospitals, especially when there’s an emergency. Ali told me when she became pregnant again, she and her husband searched carefully for the right midwife and found one.
ALI: We deserve to be cared for. We deserve to have choices. We deserve to have control over our own bodies.
WRIGHT: Ayesha, finally, there’s an important cultural context here. Black midwives and doulas have had a rich history in African American life and communities for centuries.
RASCOE: That’s NPR’s Kristin Wright. Thank you so much for joining us.
WRIGHT: Thanks, Ayesha.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
